Therapy dogs bring companionship and joy to nursing home residents

WESTBOROUGH —One of the highlights of Doris Ouellette's day is when Rosemary comes by for a visit.

"She's so soft and cuddly, such a great lap dog," Ouellette said. "It's great to have her here."

Rosemary, a 9 year old coton de tulear therapy dog and her owner, Kathy Sawyer, usually come to Beaumont on Thursdays, but made a special visit this week on Tuesday, where they met up with Maui, a 3 year old golden retriever who also provides pet therapy visits.

Both dogs work exclusively at Beaumont, where they have gotten to know the residents quite well, even visiting some residents in their own rooms.

"Maui is more excited than I've ever seen her," Ouellette said. "She usually just walks right in."

Resident Fran Guerra loves holding Rosemary.

"She minds better than my kids," she said. "I love them both."

Nursing Director Nicole Croteau said that the dogs provide additional benefits to the residents beyond the momentary diversion.

"Pet therapy has been shown to boost serotonin, which is a positive mood hormone, so the dogs are actually providing a health benefit to the residents," she said. "It's been so well received here."

Croteau said that the dogs also help to connect residents' families to one another.

"When the dog is there, they can greet the dog, and talk about the dog," she said. "And for patients who can't or don't leave their room, how much more important is it for them to see the dogs?"

Sawyer and Sabrina Lanz, Maui's owner, met when the dogs were being trained as therapy dogs at Sure Fire Dogs, but their journeys to get there were quite different.

Sawyer, who had worked in nursing for 25 years has had four previous therapy dogs, all golden retrievers.

"She was rescued by my friend's brother - she was in a kill shelter in California, and when I saw her picture, I had to have her," Sawyer said. "I had worked with the geriatric population, so this was a natural flow."

Maui is Lanz's first therapy dog, although Lanz had been wanting to have a therapy dog for some time. "It was either wrong dog/right time or right time/wrong dog," she said. "And I wanted a dog that could do agility and obedience training as well as therapy, so I got her from a breeder who is known for breeding dogs that are good at both.

"She's my first real therapy dog, and we train every day, and we still go to classes," Lanz said. "In her first year, Maui visited 50 out of 52 weeks."

Lanz said that Maui loves dressing up for holidays and events, big and small, and that Maui's Oscar party picture was featured on Good Morning America this week.

"We live close by, so we try to make it for all the holidays," she said.

Maui's agility and obedience training is also a source of conversation between Lanz and the residents.

"They're always asking me if she had an event this weekend, or how she did," Lanz said.

Lanz also recalled a recent visit when a resident was dying and the family was there. The family recognized Maui from the resident's stories about her.

"They told me that they had heard about Maui and that she had brought him so much joy for the last year," she said. "It's hard when we lose our friends, but hearing things like that from the family make it all worthwhile.